Gordon Ramsay

Gordon Ramsay started his career as a professional football player with top Scottish club Rangers FC. He only lasted two years and three months, having played two first team games, before a knee ligament injury forced him out of football and into hotel management studies in 1981.

Ramsay moved to London, where he joined Marco Pierre White in the early days of Harvey's in Wandsworth. After a couple of years Ramsay moved to Le Gavroche to work alongside chef Albert Roux. By 1993 he's won numerous awards, not the least of which are two Michelin stars.

Ramsay wrote his first book, “Passion for Flavour,” in October 1996; next, “Passion for Seafood,” was published in May 1999. “A Chef for all Seasons” was published September 2000, “Just Desserts” in September 2001 and “Secrets” in 2003.

At the same time, Gordon won the Chef of the Year award at the Cateys, with his restaurant voted the "Top Restaurant" in UK , per the 2001 London Zagat Survey, also named the best in the 2001 Harden's Guide. On January 19, 2001, the restaurant Gordon Ramsay gained its third Michelin star in the Great Britain & Ireland Red Guide.

During 2003, for the second year running, Gordon Ramsay at Royal Hospital Road was named among the five best restaurants in the world.

In 2003, Gordon Ramsay Holdings opened The Savoy Grill, which then achieved its first Michelin star. He opened the Boxwood Café at The Berkeley alongside the new Michelin star Pétrus, which had moved from St. James'.

In May 2004, Ramsay headed the series “Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares,” a series of four one-hour programs where Ramsay attempted to rescue restaurants around Britain in need of immediate assistance. The series was launched simultaneously with Ramsay's recipe book “Gordon Ramsay Kitchen Heaven,” published by the Penguin Group. This was followed by ITV's “Hell's Kitchen,” where Ramsay was given two weeks to train celebrities into Michelin-star chefs (last paragraph provided by Fox biography).